NVIDIA RTX 4090 GPU reportedly suffers cable meltdown - and a cat saves the day

We've all seen the fancy tech that some graphics card makers have implemented to help save owners from melting cable disasters, but there's a new way to protect your GPU apparently - namely to get yourself a tech-savvy cat.

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As reported on the PTT Bulletin Board System (BBS) in Taiwan - which is regarded as the equivalent of Reddit for the country - the owner of an RTX 4090 was saved by the call of their cat.

The tale, spotted by VideoCardz, goes like this: the PC enthusiast went to the toilet, only to hear the meowing of the cat, so they rushed back to notice smoke emanating from the computer and a burning smell.

The PC was still running, but wouldn't shut down, so the owner unplugged it from the power socket to turn off the rig. This was a case of a melted power connector, which actually ended up fused to the connector in the GPU.

Stories of melted power connectors are nothing new, of course, and have been floating around since the Lovelace flagship was released in 2022. Solutions such as better connectors or indeed adapters have since been implemented, although in this case, an adapter wasn't present.

Luckily, a clued-up cat was, and saved the PC from what could have been a much nastier incident. This is one feline that has earned its keep...

The owner insists that the cable was properly seated - and that they checked this with some regularity - and that it wasn't bent round at a stupid angle to fit in the case.

Obviously take any report along these lines with a pinch of seasoning or two, but it seems that cables are still melting four years on since the RTX 4090 emerged along with the initial cases of 'cablegate' as it was dubbed back then.